The use of cellular telephones within an automobile is well known as providing a convenient means of communication. To better serve drivers, mobile telephones have been mounted in a number of places within an automobile. For instance, cellular telephones have been placed in the center console between the driver and the passenger seats or alternatively on the dashboard. Yazaki U.S. Pat. No. 5,418,836 discloses a combined radio and telephone unit that is mounted in the center console of an automobile. Lang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,202,913 teaches placement of the mobile telephone unit within a recess of a dashboard.
As the road and highways become increasingly crowded, it becomes imperative that drivers be distracted as little as possible. Yet, the use of a cellular telephone by a driver of a vehicle constitutes a significant road hazard, especially during the period when the driver is either dialing or answering the telephone.
To address the problem, a number of attempts have been made to locate the cellular telephone within a vehicle or provide convenient handsfree use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,015 teaches a cellular telephone for use in a vehicle where the telephone is mounted on the steering wheel. With the advent of air bags and crowding of numerous other controls upon the steering wheel, such as radio or cruise control, the usefulness of a steering wheel mounted cellular telephone has become minimized.
Attempts have also been made to improve the placement of the telephone, while concealing the telephone when not in use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,270 teaches a cellular telephone mounted on a sun visor where the telephone can be hidden from view by tilting the visor up when not in use.
Vehicular cellular telephones have also been designed to allow for hands-free operation or use of the telephone without a handset. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,270 teaches a cellular telephone where the microphone is mounted on a vehicle sun visor. Sounds are picked up by the microphone and then FM transmitted to a receiver in the vehicle before the communication signal is sent outside the vehicle.
While present day attempts have been made to improve the convenience of a cellular telephone's location within a vehicle, as noted above, such attempts have failed to improve the overall safety associated with dialing and answering the phone. In this regard, no significant attempt has been made to control the ability to use the telephone, itself, as well as other vehicle functions from a remote site for operational safety. Particularly, present day car telephones have failed to provide a meaningful safe method to answer or dial a cellular telephone while concurrently viewing both oncoming traffic in the driver's forward field of view and upcoming traffic in the rearward field of view. As detailed herein below, the present invention addresses many of these drawbacks found in the prior art.